After roach explosion, Asbury apartments closed

The occupants of a roach-infested Asbury Park apartment are left homeless after their efforts to fumigate the unit resilted in a damaging explosion. Video by Shannon Mullen.

City inspectors entered the Third Avenue building after an explosion Wednesday night in a roach-infested unit.

Buy Photo

A first-floor apartment in Asbury Park was heavily damaged on April 13, 2016 in an explosion triggered by a buildup of insecticide spray, fire officials said.(Photo: Staff photo/Shannon Mullen)Buy Photo

ASBURY PARK - The city has shut down a roach-infested Third Avenue apartment complex and ordered the landlord to shelter its tenants at a local hotel until he corrects multiple code violations.

City inspectors entered the 14-unit complex at 410 Third Ave., on the city’s east side, after an explosion Wednesday night damaged an apartment on the ground floor, blowing out its windows and bending its front door. The unit’s occupants, identified only as two adults and a toddler, were not seriously injured.

A first-floor apartment in Asbury Park was heavily damaged on April 13, 2016 in an explosion triggered by a buildup of insecticide spray, fire officials said.(Photo: SHANNON MULLEN/STAFF PHOTO)

Property records identify the principal owner of the complex as Emmanuel O. Gbogi of 410 Third Avenue LLC. Some public records list his last name as Bogi. Gbogi, of Plainfield, could not be reached for comment Friday.

Fire officials believe the blast was triggered by a heavy buildup of vapors from a household insecticide spray the tenant was using in an attempt to eradicate a severe cockroach infestation in the unit. When the tenant began to experience a headache and opened one or more windows to clear the vapors, officials say, the incoming air combined with the vapors and the flame from the pilot light for the apartment’s stove to produce the explosive chemical reaction.

City officials observed a large number of cockroaches still scurrying around the damaged apartment after the blast.